While being able to use e-mail instead of snail mail may seem like a fairly mundane accomplishment at this point in time, as interactive/addressable TV becomes more common, this tool could prove to be important to INVIDI's revenues and presence in this developing space.

The interactive television patent, U.S. Patent 8,146,126, entitled “Request for Information (RFI) Related to Broadcast Network Content,” builds on INVIDI’s existing addressable and interactive-television advertising system. Essentially, cable, satellite, telco and IPTV operators can ask to receive a request for information from a viewer without any interruption to their viewing with a click of the remote control.

That click then answers that request by sending information to a separate location designated by the viewer, whether its their e-mail, by text message, even in internet portal, said Michael Kubin, EVP, INVIDI, in an interview with TVExchanger.

"Interactive advertising should be instantaneous, and when you have to rely on calling an 800 number or waiting for material to arrive in the mail, it's not," Kubin said. "This RFI patent is about making sure this kind of TV advertising is frictionless and seamless in the communication between the marketer and the consumer."

In a sign of the importance of patent battles in the interactive TV space, last spring, INVIDI brought a lawsuit claiming infringement against Cablevision and interactive TV provider Visible World over the use the latter company's addressable-advertising technology, which includes household targeting. That suit is still ongoing.